Thelema's lively, all admire, Her charms, but she's too full of fire; Impatience ever racks her breast, Her heart a stranger is to rest. A jocund youth of bulky size; This nymph beheld with tender eyes, From hers his humor differed quite, Black does not differ more from white. (Voltaire)

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Law of Polarity

The Law of Polarity, which states that (1) anything can be split into two wholly opposite characteristics; and (2) each of these polar elements contains the potentiality of the other within its essence. If you have seen the Chinese Yin-Yang symbol, you will have a picture to associate with this law. Mystics (and physicists!) talk about "the whiteness of black" and the "blackness of white," "the soundless sound," etc. Physicists talk about "the wave nature of particles" and "the particle nature of waves," "holes in space," etc. Related to this law is what the Emerald Tablet of Hermes expresses as "as above, so below." "The macrocosm is contained in the microcosm." A key phrase to remember is: "Everything contains its opposite."

Law of Dynamic Balance

This is the law of survival: in order to survive, to say nothing of advancing along the spiritual path, you must keep all parts of your universe and yourself in balance. All excess is dangerous. Flexibility is the keyword, and extremes are to be avoided. Remember, however, that EXTREME FLEXIBILITY IS AN EXTREME. What is needed is a DYNAMIC balance rather than a static one. This is a balance in movement, so to speak; it is a hemeostatic balance, one that constantly shifts to account for changes in the surrounding conditions. If you detect a paradox in this law, you are not mistaken. This is one of several laws that seem paradoxical. But what the hell, the universe is just made that way.

Law of Infinite Data

This law is less reverently called the Law of Infinite Elbow Room. Simply stated, this law tells us that we never run out of things to learn. "There is always something new." All human knowledge is simply a series of closer and closer approximations of "The Truth." This situation is not unlike that of an engineer faced with a "black box," which, let us say, contains an electrical circuit. The engineer can make any number of measurements, applying signals to the input terminals and observing what comes out. He can then make a guess concerning the contents of the box, devising a circuit (a "theory") which behaves in accord with his experimental data, and he will probably choose the simplest solution which fits his data. Note that no matter how many easurements he takes he can never know for certain the actual contents of the box. He has no guarantee that some future measurement will not force him to re-evaluate his assessment of the box to fit the new data. After all, the box might even contain a little man with a laboratory full of equipment who observes and measures the input and decides on a corresponding output. (And inside the little man's box...). This law should inspire caution in the student (but avoid an extreme of caution -- see the previous law), as you can never tell when something new and/or threatening will occur in your experiments.

Law of Finite Senses

Our senses detect only a small portion of what is "out there." Our eyes, for example, detect only a small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Imagine, if you can, how different the world would appear to us if we saw, rather than what we call "visible" light, by x-ray frequencies. We can't even begin to imagine what sight by gamma rays might be like. All of our senses are similarly limited, not only to portions of the entire range of a kind of stimulus, but they differ in the KIND of stimulus to which they respond. We have no proof that the data we gather through our senses is all the data there is. In fact, we know it is not. There is more to the Universe than we can detect, therefore we know by the Law of Pragmatism that the principle of there being an infinite amount of data in the Universe is a "true" principle. In one sentence: "We can't see everything.

Law of Infinite Universes

This law tells us that there an infinite number of ways to view the Universe andd therefore, by the Law of Pragmatism, there are an infinite number of universes. Stsated more formally, "the total number of universes into which all possible combinations of existing phenomena could be organized is infinite; anything is possible, but some things are more probable than others." Each of us is made up of an unimaginable number atoms and molecules, all of them arranged into a unique and complex pattern of energy that makes up the physical body. Changing any one of these will change "you." Now consider this: while you were reading this you have just changed. Cells have broken down, others have been born, you have breathed in innumerable oxygen molecules and exhaled countless carbon dioxide molecules. Even thephysical structure of your brain has changed. The sensations you have received from the various parts of your body have changed you -- including these words as you read them. What is it that experiences that sense of continuity you know you feel? Your METAPATTERN, of course! Its built-in conservatism allows you to retain a sense of identity.

Your sensory system is unique. NO TWO ENTITIES SENSE THE WORLD IN THE SAME WAY. You have no way of telling, for example, what my experience of the note c-sharp might be. Maybe my sensation would be the taste of catsup to you. Or the color red. Or the smell of roses. We live in different universes.

Remember your universe depends
upon your sensations and how
you classify them. The former
is a matter of your physical
equipment; the latter, of your
cognitive organization. CHANGE

EITHER ONE AND YOU MOVE TO A

DIFFERENT UNIVERSE. People
who are blind or deaf live in
universes where there are no
such things as light and sound.
If you change your metapattern,
then you also move to a dif-
ferent universe. (P.E.I.
Bonewits, REAL MAGIC).

Law of Pragmatism

"If it works, it's true." If something allows an organism to survive, then, as far as the organism is concerned, it has acted on "the truth." If a datum, pattern, or metapattern hinders survival, then the organism must reject it as "false" -- or die. Combining this law with the Law of Infinite Universes, we find: TRUTH CAN BE DEFINED AS A FUNCTION OF BELIEF.

Law of True Falsehoods

Actually a law of the Law of Pragmatism, this applies to data which contradict your regular metapattern but which work nevertheless. Your metapattern is "true," your world view is "real" because you have survived. Now you come across something which doesn't fit your world view (like magick, perhaps?). This can result in great anxiety (The Amazing Randi and Martin Gardner, for example, when faced with the paranormal), or even insanity for some people. We can resolve an apparent contradiction with the Law of Synthesis, but until we do, we can live with paradox by invoking the Law of True Falsehoods. "If it is a paradox, it is probably true."

Law of Personification

This is an important law in magick. It states that any phenomenon may be considered to be alive and to have a personality. This is often useful and, therefore, true. Actually, we do this all the time. You strike your head on an objectand then curse the object as if it were alive. Phenomena may well not be alive, but the fact remains that THE UNIVERSE BEHAVES UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS AS IF THEY ARE.

Laws of Invocation and Evocation These we may consider together as they are similar and are both sublaws of the Law of Personification. These laws state that we can conjure up, within our metapattern (invocation) or outside it (evocation), real entities. As Crowley has remarked, "It is [often] MORE CONVENIENT to assume the objective existence of an 'Angel' who gives us new knowledge than to allege that our invocation has awakened a supernormal in ourselves (italics his).

Law of Synchronicity

Two or more events which happen "together" or "at the same time" have more in common than their temporal relationship. All events are related; some have more relations with other events than others. "Coincidence" is merely a word of power used by fundamentalist materialists to exorcise such "demons" as magic, psi talents and so on.